The accumulation of pet hair is a common problem for pet owners and those who have pets visiting their home. Individuals purchase many products to assist them in removing hair from their furniture and carpet but many of these products are inefficient and expensive to purchase. One product historically used for removing pet hair is the vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner is expensive and has a tendency to miss some of the hair trapped on the furniture. Other devices use adhesive tapes or rollers that quickly fill with hair and must be replaced often. Some products currently on the market cause a portion of the pet hair that is being collected to be expelled from the furniture or carpet into the surrounding air.
While the prior art is replete with a number of different devices that can be used for the removal of pet hair and the like from articles such as clothing and upholstered furniture, these prior art devices exhibit certain limitations. In some instances the devices are integral, such that when the cleaning surface of the device becomes soiled, damaged or worn, the device must be disposed of, and replaced, in its entirety. One example of such an integral device is provided for in U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2007/0292195 A1, which in FIG. 15 thereof provides for a cleaning pad (390) which is integrally incorporated with a fluid reservoir body 312, such that the cleaning pad cannot be separated from, and thus separately replaced with respect to, the fluid reservoir body once the cleaning pad loses its effectiveness. Another example of such a device that must be replaced in its entirety when the cleaning surface loses (or becomes diminished in) its effectiveness to remove hair or the like from a surface to be cleaned is the “Magik Brush” lint brush provided by Butler Home Products, LLC of Marlborough, Mass. (US). The “Magik Brush” includes directionally-oriented fibers that collect hair and/or lint from a surface to be cleaned when moved across the surface in a particular direction. When the directionally-oriented fibers of the “Magik Brush” become worn or fouled, the ability of the device to remove hair or lint from a surface becomes diminished, and the device thus must be replaced in its entirety, as the device does not allow for replacing the directionally-oriented fibers separately from the rest of the device. (It will also be noted that “Magik Brush” device, as well as other prior-art devices, requires directional application of the cleaning surface across the surface to be cleaned.) In other instances the prior-art devices provide for a support body that is configured to receive replaceable cleaning pads. One example of such a device is the “Scotch™ Fur Fighter™ Hair Remover for Upholstery” by 3M Corporation (of St. Paul, Minn., US). Another example of the latter type of device is the Scotch Lint Roller offered by 3M Corporation (of St. Paul, Minn., US). These devices generally require the user to accurately position and tension replacement cleaning sheets or pads onto a support body, which can present a challenge to the user. Improper placement of replacement cleaning sheets or pads to a support body can result in reduced effectiveness of the device, and potentially cause harm or damage to the surface to be cleaned. The present disclosure provides for an apparatus which overcomes these deficiencies in prior-art pet hair and lint removal apparatuses.